At the Payments 360 Conference 2026, Greece's Ministry of National Economy and Finance used a ministerial speech to frame IRIS as a major domestic digital payments success while stressing that the next challenge is broader everyday use, particularly in physical stores. Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis said the system has moved from technical availability to mass use, but argued that legislation alone will not drive adoption. He called on banks and acquirers to make IRIS more visible at the point of payment, improve public awareness, strengthen incentives for merchants and introduce customer reward mechanisms, alongside a simpler payment experience such as NFC-based Tap and Pay functionality. He said more than 4.6 million citizens now use IRIS for instant person-to-person transfers, up by 760,000 from a year earlier, while 600,000 self-employed professionals and sole proprietorships can receive immediate payments via mobile phone and tax identification number. IRIS transaction value reached EUR 10.9 billion in 2025, up 70% from the previous year, but use at physical points of sale remains limited at about 55,000 transactions a month. In the same speech, he highlighted the start of the first phase of IRIS interconnection with payment schemes in Italy, Spain and Portugal through the European Payments Alliance, enabling 57.3 million people in five countries to exchange money instantly using the same simple method already used in their domestic markets. The minister said the network's reach is set to expand to 173.1 million citizens in 18 countries by the end of the year. In 2027, interoperability is planned to extend to both e-commerce and in-store payments. He also described the digital euro as complementary to initiatives such as IRIS and EuroPA rather than a competing alternative.

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